In its report, the Chamber of Commerce notes that Trend Report Q2 2025 that entrepreneurs are increasingly opting for a BV. It is striking that even start-up entrepreneurs are increasingly choosing a BV. The House warns: “The idea that a private limited company avoids the risks associated with bogus self-employment is incorrect”.
The Tax and Customs Administration enforces
The reason is likely that, with effect from 1 January 2025, the Tax and Customs Administration will once again be actively enforcing the rules on (bogus) self-employment. There will, however, be a “soft landing”, meaning that fines will only be imposed in exceptional cases. But if the Tax and Customs Administration determines that an employment relationship exists, back taxes and social security contributions for 2025 will be levied.
Own limited company
If you are employed by your own private limited company, you must receive a salary from that company, and this salary is subject to payroll deductions (income tax, national insurance contributions and the income-related contribution under the Health Insurance Act). However, you are not covered by statutory employee insurance schemes and are not obliged to participate in pension schemes. Furthermore, subject to the rules regarding the ‘customary wage’, you are free to set the amount of your salary yourself. Initially, you only pay corporation tax on the profit retained within your private limited company. It is only when you distribute the profit that you pay income tax on the distribution.
However, if you work as a self-employed person through your own private limited company, the tax authorities may still assess whether you are working for your client(s) under circumstances such that you are, in personal terms, in an employment relationship with that client or those clients. In effect, they look beyond your private limited company. The rules of employment law then apply, and your client(s) must still deduct payroll taxes from the payments made to your private limited company, pay employee insurance contributions and, in many cases, also pay pension contributions.
This assessment is carried out on the basis of the criteria set out by the Supreme Court in its Deliveroo and Uber judgements. We describe these criteria in our article Entrepreneurship also counts when assessing self-employment.
VBAR
On 7 July 2025, the outgoing Cabinet tabled the Act on Clarification of the Assessment of Employment Relationships and the Introduction of a Legal Presumption (VBAR) with the Lower House. This bill aims to clarify the criteria for assessing whether an employment relationship exists, as set out in the Deliveroo and Uber judgements. Furthermore, a legal presumption is being introduced whereby, if the remuneration received by a self-employed person is less than €36 per hour, an employment relationship is deemed to exist. It is, of course, not certain that this bill will pass through parliament (unamended).
Self-Employment Act
In addition to the VBAR bill, there is a private member’s bill. This Self-Employment Act, through which the VVD, D66, CDA and SGP aim to put an end to the uncertainty and unease surrounding the status of self-employed workers, has not yet been tabled in the House of Representatives.